In 1988 the anime version of Akira, directed by Otomo, was released, and has since joined the ranks of the best full-length anime fllms ever released. The movie, however, is highly abbreviated, with a very different storyline from the original manga, although it contains many of the same characters and elements, which is perhaps better than releasing a simple video summary, as many book-turned-into-movie films end up being.

In addition to the movie, a colorized version of the manga was released in the US by Marvel Comics in 36 volumes. Dark Horse Comics has also since released a 6 volume, black and white version, (roughly 400 pages each) which comes to a staggering 2160 pages of goodness.

Main Characters:

These are the characters that continue throughout the series and play the largest parts.

There are two movie-only editions each with different sound formats also. I have this pre-ordered, so the moment I get my hands on it and have finished dissecting both discs (although many of the special features are already on the collector's Edition Video Set) I will provide a more detailed review of the DVD.

I got my copy of Akira in a much beefier tin than I imagined it would be, very nice. The actual DVD is a mixed bag. The menus are very stylish, possible my favourite of any of the DVD's I own. The film transfer is fine, I can't really say more than that, it doesn't strike me as exceptional. The sound is the same, although I am disappointed with the 5.1 surround. It barely seemed to be used, no bass rumbles, hardly any movement from the other speakers. I didn't listen to the new dub so I can't comment on that. The subtitle translation differed ever so slightly in places from the original, but was much clearer for it.
One feature that deserves a mention is the capsule option. Very often throughout the film, a capsule will appear at the bottom of the screen. Pressing play will pause the action, and give you a translation of any grafitti in the current scene. It's an interesting addition.
The other special features aren't really that special, there are the old interviews and 'making of' documentaries which now look very dated. The new feature on how they restored the movie is useless. They tell you what they did to restore it, but not how. All you get are a few short segments with various people telling you what they did, with no real insight whatsoever into the processes involved.

Overall my reaction to this DVD is very mixed. I am glad I now have a superior quality version to my VHS edition, but it doesn't live up to the hype. It seems to be all style and no substance, if only Criterion had overseen this project.

Also in response to Wukong888: Indeed, Akira certainly isn't the deepest film out there, but many, many people have a special place for it in their hearts. It was one of the first anime films I ever saw, and the one that captured my imagination. Like Princess Mononoke now, Akira was a stunning introduction for people who normally might not have ever discovered anime.

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A word of advice to prospective purchasers of the Akira Special Edition DVD: Make sure it's Region 1. This is a mistake that I, and countless others as far as the Akira 2002 message boards will attest to, have made. Allow me to explain.

The Region 1 DVD of Akira Special Edition will feature all the groovy extras that Edame described in his writeup. All the good stuff, like that half-hour Making Of special that was dubbed so horribly on the double VHS set, only now subbed. The Behind the Scenes of the restoration and re-dubbing of this decade-and-a-half old classic is something I would love to see.

The Region 2 DVD, however, has none of that. Here is a complete (!) feature list of the extras on Disc 2 of Akira Special Edition, British version:

The "Making Of" featurette from 1988, completely untouched from the original VHS source tape - still dubbed

A useless "Make Your Own Akira Trailer" feature, which consists of picking out four video clips from a selection of eight and having them played back

An Akira trivia game, where the same five questions are repeated - in the same order - every time you play